Ombudsman - Settling a dispute with a Luxembourg administration amicably

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The Ombudsman or mediator receives complaints from businesses and individuals in cases involving them and linked to the functioning of Luxembourg administrations.

The Ombudsman is dedicated to find without legal proceedings amicable solutions to problems that it has been presented with.

Who is concerned?

All businesses and all individuals, regardless of their nationality, who deem themselves harmed by an administrative decision or procedure or by the behaviour of a public agent may turn to the Ombudsman.

Prerequisites

The claimant can refer his case to the Ombudsman if:

  • it is a concrete case which directly impacts the claimant and not a matter regarding the functioning of the administration in general;
  • he/she has already asked or intends to ask the authority in question to clarify or change its position;
  • and there has been no answer to this intervention or the answer is not satisfying.

How to proceed

Submitting a complaint to the Ombudsman

Businesses and private individuals can submit a complaint:

  • either by a written individual complaint in Luxembourgish, French, German or English;
  • by submitting an online complaint on the website of the ombudsman;
  • or by making an appointment with the Ombudsman's secretary and submitting the complaint orally.
    Verbal complaints can be submitted in another foreign language on condition that the person submitting the complaint is accompanied by an interpreter.

The complaint must be accompanied by:

  • a summary of the contentious facts;
  • supporting documents like letters and disputed administrative decisions.

Consequences of the complaint

The Ombudsman checks if the complaint is admissible. If he should decide that the claim is not justified, he informs the claimant of the reasons for his decision. This decision cannot be appealed against in court.

If he deems the complaint to be admissible and justified, the Ombudsman sends his recommendations to the authorities in question, in order to have the authorities concerned re-examine the disputed decision and to reach an amicable agreement about the dispute.

He then informs the person lodging the complaint, in writing, of the results of his proposal.

The Ombudsman is neither a judge nor a referee and cannot intervene in judicial proceedings. However, if the institution concerned does not abide by a court ruling, he can summon it to comply within a deadline set by him.

A complaint addressed to the ombudsman does not interrupt the deadlines of appeal to the competent courts. Likewise, the Ombudsman remains in charge of the case even if an appeal has been lodged at court.

Online services and forms

Who to contact

Ombudsman

Related procedures and links

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